Carlos Arredondo displays a blood-soaked flag. He had been handing them out when explosions ripped through areas near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday.

Another frequently published photo shows him afterward, carrying an American flag soaked in blood.

Arredondo had been at the race to support a group running for fallen veterans, one of them his son, according to the Maine newspaper, which described him charging in to help the wounded after the explosions.

When Marines arrived in a van to deliver the news, on Arredondo’s 44th birthday, he grabbed a can of gasoline and a torch from his garage, climbed inside the van and doused it, then set fire to it, severely burning himself in the process, The Associated Press reported at the time.

The New York Times wrote about Arredondo in 2007, finding him a man distraught who was manning a makeshift mobile memorial in the back of his pickup. There was a coffin containing his son’s favorite possessions, and then there were the photos. They depicted Alexander Arredondo as a happy teen, then as a fully-battle-equipped warrior, then as a body in a coffin.

“As long as there are Marines fighting and dying in Iraq, I’m going to share my mourning with the American people,” he told the paper.

Public grieving would gain him national attention, but it wouldn’t be easy.

In 2007, Arredondo was publicly beaten during an anti-war demonstration in Washington, according to WarIsACrime.org, which carries photos of the incident and an account from Arredondo’s wife.

And in December 2011, just before Christmas, Carlos’ other son, Brian, 24, took his own life as U.S. troops were withdrawing from the war that left his brother dead, according to numerous media reports.